Sharingan, Activate!

Lady Tsunade had scolded Nawaki several times, but every time he thumped his chest and promised to behave, he reverted to his old ways once they reached the battlefield.

Seeing Nawaki standing beside him with Orochimaru leading the team this time, Uchiha Chonhua felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

Just in case, Uchiha Chonhua had warned Nawaki before they set out not to get carried away and to follow orders.

Above all, he must not act on his own.

"Honestly, you're starting to nag like my sister." Nawaki looked a little helpless, but once again thumped his chest and promised Uchiha Chonhua, "Don't worry, Chonhua. I absolutely won't act on my own again."

"You'd better not."

Uchiha Chonhua wasn't convinced.

"Chonhua, over there!"

Uchiha Chonhua held a Chakra Blade. At the Uchiha clan member's words, his eyes narrowed. He raised his hand and slashed at the empty air.

It looked as if he'd swung at nothing, but he had cut the Chakra Threads controlling the Sunagakure ninja's puppet.

The puppet controlled by the Sunagakure squad leader immediately went limp and slumped to the ground.

"Sharingan..."

But that wasn't all. After glimpsing the unsettling Sharingan, the Sunagakure squad leader was met with pale, translucent Byakugan.

"The Uchiha and Hyuga clans are really going out of their way for us stray soldiers."

With two great dojutsu clans attending to them, how could they ask for more?

The Sunagakure squad leader's chakra surged. He immediately formed Hand Seals and shouted, "Puppet Technique: Poison Explosion!"

Hizashi Hyuga's Byakugan shifted, and he immediately noticed something wrong with the puppet lying on the ground.

"Not good! Get away from that puppet!"

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

As soon as Hizashi Hyuga finished speaking, Uchiha Chonhua moved. He created a Shadow Clone, which picked up the puppet and charged straight toward the Sunagakure squad leader.

The sight nearly scared the Sunagakure squad leader out of his wits. He didn't dare release the poison gas near himself.

He quickly changed tactics, stopping the flow of chakra and making the puppet open its mouth instead. A poison-coated spike shot out, piercing Uchiha Chonhua's Shadow Clone and making it burst.

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, something unexpected happened.

The teammate beside him suddenly made his puppet attack the Sunagakure squad leader.

He hadn't reacted in time. More importantly, the Sunagakure squad leader had never expected his own teammate to attack him.

His pupils contracted. He quickly retreated to dodge, but the puppet's poisoned arrow still struck him.

"Damn it!"

The Sunagakure squad leader immediately felt his strength fading. He hurriedly pulled out an antidote pill and swallowed it.

He lowered his head, afraid to look at his controlled teammate—and even more afraid to look at the enemy.

Especially the Uchiha.

The Sunagakure squad leader knew exactly how his teammate had been affected. He must have been trapped in a genjutsu cast with the Uchiha's Sharingan.

"You think you won't be controlled if you don't look at the Sharingan?"

Uchiha Chonhua's calm voice drifted over. The Sunagakure squad leader stared in terror at his own hands. Like paper tearing apart, they began to crumble, and the disintegration spread across his whole body!

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

The Sunagakure squad leader screamed in terror. He tried to stop his body from disintegrating, but couldn't. All he could do was watch as he shattered into fragments that the wind carried away.

In reality, the Sunagakure squad leader was drooling, his eyes vacant and his expression dazed as he stared ahead.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

All the Sunagakure ninja in the squad had fallen under the genjutsu, helpless to resist. Kunai thrown casually pierced every one of their necks, easily sending the squad to its deaths.

That was what happened when you fought the Uchiha clan's Sharingan.

"Chonhua, to use genjutsu to this extent without the Sharingan..." The Uchiha clan member praised him. "You're very skilled at genjutsu. Your mastery is impressive!"

He could use genjutsu of this level too, but only with the Sharingan's help.

Without the Sharingan's boost, he thought, he could only control someone for an instant.

He couldn't do what Uchiha Chonhua had done and control the entire Sunagakure squad leader.

"No wonder Lord Hokage thinks so highly of you."

Uchiha Chonhua paid no heed to the praise. With the Mind's Eye of the Kagura active, he kept watch on the main force.

He was especially concerned about Nawaki. He still wasn't entirely reassured, but fortunately the Mind's Eye of the Kagura had an extensive range. With his current chakra reserves, he could sense everything within dozens of miles.

"Let's go. There are two more Sunagakure squads."

A Hyuga clan member with the Byakugan led the way. He glanced discreetly at Uchiha Chonhua.

Uchiha Chonhua noticed. They must have seen the vast amount of chakra inside him.

It was certainly astonishing to see an Uchiha with such immense chakra.

Hizashi Hyuga looked as if he wanted to say something to Uchiha Chonhua, but in the end, he said nothing.

They hadn't seen each other for a while since becoming Chunin. Hizashi belonged to the sensory unit, and the ninja he supported were assigned to combat units at random. Unfortunately, he hadn't been assigned to Uchiha Chonhua's team.

Hizashi Hyuga hadn't spent his rest periods idly activating his Byakugan to watch others. It was only now, fighting alongside Uchiha Chonhua, that he saw the amount of chakra inside him through the Byakugan. The sight shocked him.

Chonhua's chakra... How did it suddenly become so immense?!

It hadn't been that long since they last met, yet the change left Hizashi Hyuga completely baffled.

He wasn't the only one. The other Hyuga clan members were just as bewildered.

They had only ever seen such immense chakra in members of the Senju and Uzumaki clans. When had they ever seen it in the Uchiha?

Are you sure he's really an Uchiha? I've never heard of an Uchiha with that much chakra!

Though they were surprised, none of them asked.

They weren't close, and their clans both possessed dojutsu Kekkei Genkai. There was an unspoken rivalry between them, so they were even less inclined to question the other side.

As a friend and comrade, Hizashi Hyuga could ask him...

[The fate of one chosen by destiny is indeed extraordinary.]

Hizashi Hyuga shook his head. He believed in fate, and this was the explanation he gave himself.

He looked at Uchiha Chonhua with even greater respect and fervor.

"Rasengan!"

Uchiha Chonhua slammed the sphere into an enemy, sending him flying. The twisting, chaotic force tore apart the man's internal organs. He died in midair before he could hit the ground.

"Over there. We've spotted another Sunagakure ninja squad."

A Chunin from the Hyuga clan spotted the enemy again. A Uchiha Chunin sneered, "Sunagakure sent out so many squads. Aren't they worried their main force will be too thin to withstand a frontal assault from us?"

"Perhaps they're confident in their strength," Hizashi Hyuga said.

The Sunagakure squads had scattered in every direction, trying to get behind them. Whether they ambushed the Leaf from behind or continued deeper into the Land of Fire to cause trouble, either way would be a problem for Konoha.

This ninja unit, made up of the two great dojutsu clans, the Uchiha and Hyuga, had been sent to clear out those scattered Sunagakure squads.

"The battle near Lord Orochimaru is about to end," a Hyuga Jonin suddenly said.

This seemed to confirm what the Uchiha Chunin had said. He spread his hands and smiled mockingly. "See? They really were defeated head-on."

"Even if every Sunagakure ninja had stayed together, the outcome was already decided!"

The Uchiha Chunin had complete faith in Konoha's strength. Even if the enemy's ninja hadn't scattered, they still wouldn't have been able to defeat Konoha.

His pair of crimson, eerie Sharingan brimmed with scorn for Sunagakure.

Uchiha Chonhua frowned. Through the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, he sensed the chakra points belonging to Sunagakure steadily retreating.

The chakra points belonging to Konoha pursued them. As the enemy retreated faster, the cold, snake-like chakra point stopped, and the other chakra points around it stopped in unison.

Uchiha Chonhua halted, his expression changing.

"Sorry, I have to go to Senior Orochimaru."

Before he'd even finished speaking, lightning crackled around Uchiha Chonhua. He raced toward the main force!

"Hey! Chonhua!"

The Uchiha clan members stared in surprise as Uchiha Chonhua left the unit.

That counts as disobeying the mission and leaving without permission!

"Chonhua must have sensed something wrong."

Hizashi Hyuga saw the Hyuga clan members' displeased expressions and explained, "Chonhua is cautious. If he suddenly left, he must have noticed something."

"I know Chonhua. His sensory abilities are strong. He must have a good reason for doing this."

Hearing Hizashi Hyuga say that, the Hyuga clan members' displeasure faded, though one of them still muttered, "He could at least tell us what's going on..."

"Hmph. Chonhua is someone Lord Hokage thinks highly of. He has his reasons for what he does. Why would he tell the Hyuga? If he told anyone, it should be us!"

The Uchiha clan member glared with his Sharingan. Now it was their turn to glare at the Hyuga clan members.

"What do you mean by that, Uchiha?"

"I should be asking you that! Who was that sour look for? What, are you unhappy with us Uchiha?!"

"You're the one who's unhappy with the Hyuga. Are you looking for a fight?!"

"..."

Hizashi Hyuga was caught between the arguing Uchiha and Hyuga, sweating as he tried to calm them down.

How did they suddenly start fighting?

He knew the Hyuga and Uchiha weren't on the best terms, but surely they didn't need to argue right now.

They were on a battlefield, and they had a mission to carry out!

"Ah! The Sunagakure squad we spotted earlier is getting away!"

Hizashi Hyuga shouted, and the Uchiha and Hyuga clan members all looked toward the direction he pointed.

In unison, they said, "Don't let them get away!!"

Hizashi Hyuga wiped away sweat that wasn't there. Fortunately, the enemy from Konoha's perspective mattered more than the feud between their clans.

Hizashi Hyuga looked in the direction Uchiha Chonhua had gone.

I wonder what Chonhua noticed?

Uchiha Chonhua was no longer within the range of his Byakugan.

"Don't chase a cornered enemy. Watch out for an ambush."

Orochimaru raised his hand to halt the troops. For now, it was enough to stop Sunagakure's advance.

Sunagakure's retreat route was the same path they had taken when invading the Land of Fire.

There could easily be an ambush waiting for them.

As the Hokage's student, Orochimaru was powerful and widely respected. At his command, the Konoha ninja obeyed and stopped pursuing the enemy.

But one person didn't stop.

Nawaki kept chasing after the Sunagakure forces.

Orochimaru's expression changed. He knew Nawaki had gotten carried away again and was acting on his own!

"Nawaki, stop!"